Marketers: No hike in petrol price for now

Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) say there is no hike in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol.
The groups confirmed the development on Friday in Lagos while reacting to reports that the price of PMS has been increased to N212.61 per litre.
Currently petrol sells at N162 and N165 per litre at most filling stations across the country.
Mr Clement Isong, the Executive Secretary, MOMAN, said that the association had received communication from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) that there should be no price increment for PMS.
Isong said: “NNPC has told us that they will not increase prices in March. If you recall, they have made a statement on that earlier and have reconfirmed to us that there is no increment.
“They have also put it out on their social media handles.’’
According to him, queue noticed at filling stations in some states of the country in recent weeks is due to speculation that there will be price increase.
“What NNPC did was to take out the speculation by giving assurance that price will not go up in March and that killed the queue and demand went down.
“What they have done again this morning is to take out the speculation out of the market. They always have enough products,’’ he said.
Isong added that MOMAN had advised its members to continue retailing with the old price regime.
Similarly, Mr Chinedu Okoronkwo, President, IPMAN said marketers had received communication from NNPC that there would not be any price increment until government and organised labour concluded their deliberations.
“There is no increment. Government is still talking with labour. What we are even concerned about is total deregulation of the market.
“There are other alternative sources of energy to PMS and we cannot continue to focus all our attention only on that product.